Things have been hectic lately… I’ve been reading:

• “The Diamond Age” by Neal Stephenson. I listened to the first half of this book during my trip to and from Rochester a few weeks ago. I then borrowed the book from the library and picked up where I left off. I really loved this book, and I am really looking forward to Quicksilver
• “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right” by Al Franken. I make no bones about it, I love Al Franken. I was going to wait to listen to this book, because it’s always funnier when it’s read by Al Franken, but I just couldn’t help myself. I cranked through the book in about 3 or 4 days, and it was hysterical.

• The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. This is one of those books that I knew I should have read a long time ago but never did. It is taking me a long time to get through it, mostly because in revising the book for the second edition, Dawkins decided to leave the main text unedited and did all his updating through end notes. The constant flipping back and forth really slows me down. I’m about halfway through this book, and while it’s so far so good, it is pretty easy for me to push it aside for reading that’s a bit more “fun”.

Mom and Dad called me Saturday to tell me that Cassie has thyroid cancer, and it has already metastasized… The doctor said she probably had one month to live, but if she is in pain we have made “the decision”. Dependent on other things going on this week, I am hoping to get home for a few days to say goodbye to her.

I have a phone “interview” with a recruiter today, for a position I am terribly (over) qualified for. Hopefully that will work out, but if it doesn’t, I think it is my “last resort”. There is a job fair at Fenway that I will attend, but I think the s/n ratio will be too high for people in my work. If I don’t hear some positives in the next few days I am going to prepare to move back to NJ.